After last month's decision to pursue a disarmament plan, Hezbollah accused the government of caving to U.S. and Israeli pressure and said it would 'treat this decision as if it does not exist'
Lebanon's Cabinet convened Friday to discuss a plan drawn up by the Lebanese army to disarm the Hezbollah militant group and consolidate weapons in the hands of the state.
Upon the arrival of the army chief, Gen. Rudolph Haikal, ministers from Hezbollah's political bloc as well as the allied Shia Amal party and independent Shia minister Fadi Makki withdrew from the meeting room. The Hezbollah and Amal ministers then left the government palace.
The Shia ministers had also walked out in protest from the meeting last month in which the Cabinet commissioned the army to draw up a disarmament plan.
Since a U.S.-brokered cease-fire halted the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November, Hezbollah has been under increasing domestic and international pressure to give up its remaining arsenal.
